pop song of frustration
by Xephonia
Summary: Ryouga hates his fellow idols, but he has to keep up his good public persona.


What kind of alcohol was he influenced by when he decided to become an idol?

Ryouga wonders about that a lot lately.

He remembers Rio's complaints about how singing and dancing is easier and more fun than studying, how they should take the chance Don Thousand offered them.

Ryouga rarely regrets it, but right now he does.

" _Don't get me wrong, I love you,_ " he sings, holding Vector's hand as he does.

Vector smirks and steps on Ryouga's foot. " _But does that mean I have to meet your sister?_ "

 _That bastard changed the lyrics again._

Ryouga sighs and steps on Vector's foot while changing positions, then he smiles and goes on, " _When we are older you will understand what I meant when I said_ -"

" _No, I don't think life is quite that simple~_ " Vector's dumb smirk doesn't disappear and Ryouga hates it, but what is there to do?

They're idols, people ship them, keeping up a good public persona is part of the job.

(Ryouga remembers the cutesy fluff fanfiction and shudders inwardly.)

(He also remembers the fanfiction - written by someone called Ragnazero - where he and Vector are actually in-character, and that makes it even worse.)

" _When you walk away, you don't hear me say-_ "

" _Please, oh Ryouga, don't go~_ "

Vector's fake emotions are even worse than his genuine smirk.

Ryouga hears shouts of 'He called him by his first name!' in the crowd and curses having a stage name in the first place.

 _It's disgusting when that bastard says my name._

Ryouga grits his teeth and - _if Vec can change the lyrics, I can, too_ \- goes, "Tired and done _is the way that you're making me feel, tonight-_ "

" _It's hard to let it go~_ "

The crowd is beaming with excitement, and Ryouga doesn't quite get why. Too many shouts to understand what they are saying.

Mizael and Durbe take over at this point, so Ryouga goes backstage, quickly followed by Vector.

"Asshole."

"What are you talking about, Nasch?~"

"You know it. You changed the lyrics."

Vector answers with a shrug. "Today you helped the shipping a lot."

"What?!"

"Well, a sex reference is pretty bold, even for you~"

It's then that Ryouga realizes that he's made a mistake.

'Tired and done.' 'Tonight.'

 _God damn it._

"Bastard."

"Why thank you." Vector takes out his phone. "Oh look, someone's just tweeted that we are a couple now."

Ryouga lets out an exasperated sigh and sits down on the couch. "Who came up with the shipping thing anyway?"

"Merag, who else?"

"Damn it."

Vector sits down next to Ryouga and gets hit by him immediately.

"Move. You're too close."

"You've held hands with me."

"In public, and there we call each other by awful cutesy nicknames, so does that even count?"

"Totally does." Vector doesn't move.

"Screw you."

* * *

When the song is over, Ryouga is first to leave, and he bumps into someone immediately.

"Watch out, you da-" He looks up. "IV?"

"That was quite a confession you made there."

"I was trying to say I hate his guts."

"I know," IV shrugs. "Wanna get out without anyone seeing you?"

Ryouga nods.

It's one of the weird things about being friends with IV. They are from rivaling idol groups, but IV considers himself Ryouga's number one fan -

 _He's pushy._

\- but when Ryouga needs him, he's there to help.

Sometimes Ryouga wonders if IV isn't just doing it to spite Vector and get the fans to ship them instead.

"I read some fanfiction where we do this, " IV suddenly says as they climb down the emergency ladder.

Ryouga scowls. "Am I the only one who thinks that reading fanfiction is a bad idea?"

"You are."

"Tch."

"You should be glad our fandom is growing; it gained you some extra fans."

"I could do without them, especially because last time I got shipped a lot, I ended up meeting you." Ryouga gets his helmet and takes his place on his motorbike - he won't let IV come with him (last time, IV posted pictures of Ryouga sleeping on twitter).

"You still like me better than Vector." IV smirks.

"That's not hard to accomplish."


End file.
